This document details the protocols we used for proofreading the transcriptions we made of our three source texts into Microsoft Word. These protocols are and have for centuries been standard proofreading practice in trade publishing. They are designed to ensure that transcriptions (re-keyboardings) of manuscript and printed source texts into machine-readable programs like Microsoft Word correspond EXACTLY to the original source texts. Such accurate transcription is the crucial first step in any scholarly editing project, since the collation, emendation, and annotation that follow transcription can only be as accurate as the transcriptions of original source or “witness” texts are.